Yoga: a Principled Practical Spiritual Philosophy

When you are inspired by some great purpose, some extraordinary project, all your thoughts break their bonds;

Your mind transcends limitations,

Your consciousness expands in every direction,

And you find yourself in a new, great and wonderful world.

Dormant forces, faculties and talents become alive, and you discover yourself to be a greater person by far than you ever dreamed yourself to be.

Patanjali (c.1st-3rd Center B.C.)

A man recognized as a saint by his people, writing under the pseudonym Patanjali, authored the foremost authoritative text, and a Hindu Classic; The Yoga Sutras. Patanjali is considered to have established the tradition of meditation.

The New Year, a new beginning, a time for reflecting and dreaming. Being in the flow of life, riding the waves, the highs and the lows, holding steady and weathering the storm, changing direction, taking a new turn; all of these life choices can be done with awareness, reflection and hope for a joy filled and peaceful way of Being.

In 2018 it is my resolve, to teach the richness of Yoga’s wisdom as a

PRINCIPLED, PRACTICAL, SPIRITUAL PHILOSOPHY OF LIFE

Sankalpa is the practice of choosing to dedicate your life to your spiritual growth. Sankalpa is a call to awakening to the truth of your very essence as a Spiritual Being. It is resolving to cultivate your Spiritual health and growth, in this body, with this mind, during this life. Sankalpa is intending to create your life in alignment with your Soul’s highest purpose and thereby bring your gifts to the world. Now this is one New Year’s Resolution that will last a lifetime and really change your experience. Viniyoga, can help you maintain your steadfast dedication to fulfill this resolution now and for the rest of your life.

Patanjali’s words, the explanations and methods he puts forth in the Sutra’s have been described as a way to find God. The Yoga Sutras are a blueprint of sorts, for creating a life of inspiration and meaning. It is through a heightened level of awareness, by developing one’s consciousness, which is the foundation for building a spiritual base, that we liberate ourselves from the confines of body, mind and ego.

Joy is an experience, it is a feeling that can come upon us and crack us wide open. We can seek this, cultivate it, orient our lives around it. Joy, it is said, is the experience we have when our Soul sings, when we are inspired. When we choose to take our lives in the direction of what brings us joy, we are aligning our lives with our Soul’s purpose, which is our highest calling. When we do so, we are choosing to live a spiritually oriented life and we experience a feeling of expansion, we experience Joy, Peace and Freedom.

Patanjali’s Yoga teachings include practices that show us how to quiet the chatter of the mind, still the inner churnings, and connect with our deepest inner Truth. The Truth we seek to experience is not a result of the mind reasoning its way there. Truth is experienced in the stillness and silence of our own inner being, by listening deeply to something other than the mind. Insight, “Ah Ha” moments, intuitive knowing, are how we experience our Soul’s truth, our highest truth. This truth does not always align with the mind’s understanding for it is beyond the limitations of the mind.

When we become truly inspired by something we consider extraordinary, truly extraordinary things will begin to happen for us, particularly in our thought processes. In my own experience I know that I feel most ‘on purpose’ in my life when I am teaching and sharing Yoga. These are the moments when I feel in the ‘flow’, what is also called ‘a peak experience’. I experience, as Patanjali has described, …”my consciousness expanding in every direction and I find myself in a new, great and wonderful world”, one that is not confined by the limits of time, past or present, and is beyond the boundaries of my minds capacity to explain. These are among the most joyous experiences of my life.

The practices of Yoga enable us to clear away the clutter, to create an open space within our inner landscape to discover what is already there. The deep abiding Peace and Joy at the very essence of our being. This is the source of life, healing and growth. Through the body, by way of the mind, we CAN experience our True Self, as the joy filled, peaceful, Spiritual being we truly are.

Postures are only an introduction to the Yogic journey. My yoga practice is not the same as it was some 25 years ago when I began my journey. It changes, evolves and grows as I do. Life never stays still, it never remains the same, so why would my yoga practice remain stagnant? Our practice does, and should, change, shift and grow as we do.

In my teachings I seek to empower my students to understand the principles of Yoga in order to engage with the practices that are appropriate and useful no matter where they are in their lives. Working one on one with someone allows me to really tune into each individual’s needs, hopes and desires. I create a series of lessons that will offer practices, study, methods and means, to discover what they are seeking. Whether there is a health issue requiring healing, a desire for spiritual nourishment, or you just want to learn what you can do for yourself, I offer guidance through the Yogic lens, to achieve your goals. This, and so much more, is involved in the teaching of Yoga as Therapy. Yoga Therapy is a western term, but really what I teach is Viniyoga. The teaching of Yoga to suit the needs, desires and capacity of each individual person. This method of engagement takes your relationship with yoga beyond the physical practices alone. Viniyoga is the teaching of, and engagement with Yoga, as a spiritual practice, for healing of body, mind and spirit.

Spirituality is not the same thing as having a spiritual experience. Yoga shows us how to live and orient our lives toward discovering the truth of our Being. We are Spiritual Beings having a Human experience. Yoga is not just something you do, it offers us so hope, and freedom from a life devoid of Spiritual sustenance. Yoga offers us a way to abide in our Truth, and discover the Joy in aligning our life around cultivating our spiritual “muscles”, while caring for our physical and mental parts too.

At the moment of peak experience, these inspired moments of feeling at one with the entire universe, you experience life as truly wonderful. This occurs when you are involved at a spiritual level, when you are not focused on what is wrong or missing, but on the balanced feeling that comes from BEING in Spirit. This is when You are co-creating with spirit. In other words, you are having an inspirational experience, this is Joy. (Notice the capital You, this is not your small personality ego driven you, rather the Soul You)

The faculties and talents that Patanjali refers to remain dormant if we do not take the steps to become inspired in life. You must choose to enlist spirit, you must create a centered state of purpose. That dormant force that Patanjali mentions is activated by a connection to the divine within, when the focus is on a project that engages Soul’s purpose. This is how and when you activate the forces in the universe that previously were out of your range. When you enlist spirit, when you choose to align your efforts, your work on a project that has touched something deep within you, something that has inspired you, the universe conspires to support you in ways unfathomable. As the ancient Zen proverb applies: “When the student is ready, the teacher will appear.” And anything, person, place, experience or thing can be your teacher.

If 2018 is the year for you to choose to focus on nourishing your Soul and living an inspired life, then Viniyoga is for you. If you know you are seeking something more from your life than the mundane and you want spiritual guidance, then Yoga can help. Viniyoga is a principled practical way you can learn how to intentionally develop a spiritually rich and soulfully nourishing life.

When you seek inspiration, when you choose to cultivate and nourish your Soul, and act accordingly, “You discover yourself to be a far greater person than you had ever imagined.” Extraordinary!! Goethe once wrote, “Man is not born to solve the problems of the universe, but to find out what he has to do.” And, we could add, to do it with Inspiration!!

Viniyoga is Yoga for YOU, for your whole life!!!.

If you are interested in discovering how to align your life with your highest purpose, to create an inspired life, to experience more Joy, Viniyoga is for you.

Are you ready pursue an intensively inspiring experience?

Are you prepared to discover your Joy?

Do you want to Let Your Soul Sing?

Are you willing to do something extraordinarily nourishing, and inspiring?

Do you need to probe deeply into the source of your Joy?

Then join me on the Pathway to Inspiration and Joy through Viniyoga.

My prayer is that you will discover the Truth of your Being this year, and Let your Soul Sing through cultivating your experience of Joy and living an inspired life.

Email me and we can set up a time to chat so I can answer your questions.

2 thoughts on “Yoga: a Principled Practical Spiritual Philosophy”

Hi Smita, I no longer teach group classes. All my work is now done in private one to one sessions. Please feel free to contact me if you would like to pursue this option or discuss alternative strategies for you in the community.